Balanced and sustainable regional development will be top of the agenda when new Finance Minister Michael McGrath addresses a special three-day Regions in Focus 2023 event beginning next Tuesday week, February 7.

The Association of Irish Regions (AIR) event will see a host of leading academics and industry experts gather for workshops, seminars and specialised training from February 7 to 9 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Coolshannagh, Co. Monaghan.

And the future development of counties, including Galway city and county, will be discussed and debated at the event attended by leading figures from industry, academia, and policymaking.

Attendees will also include representatives from Ireland’s three regional assemblies, who will offer their perspectives on the big challenges facing Ireland’s regions, including climate change, regional inequality, and the transition to renewable energy.

David Minton, Director of the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, which covers Galway and the North West, admitted that recent years had been difficult for the region.

“We’ve seen longstanding economic fault lines such as the shortage of housing and reliance on non-renewable energy exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and the continuing fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, placing further pressure on households and businesses,” he said.

“Events such as Regions in Focus 2023 give us the opportunity to meet with lawmakers and leading experts in industry and academia, to exchange ideas about how to improve the prospects of our respective regions for the benefit of the whole economy.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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